Umbrella, parasol, or the like



Feb. 27, 1951 s. M. FROST UMBRELLA, PARASOL OR THE LIKE Filed March 16, 1949 Patented F eb. 27, t 1951 UMBRELLA, PARASOL, OR THE LIKE Sydney Murdoch Frost, Leicester, England, as-

signor to Kendall ,& SonsLimited, Leicester,

. England Application March 16,1949, S'erial'No. 81g689 In Great Britain November 22, 1947 4 Claims.

The presentinvention relates .to'means for securing the covers of umbrellas, parasols and sun- :shades (hereinafter.termed umbrellas) to the ribs oftthe umbrella-frame or;to members constituting extensions thereof.

In the specification of co-pending application Serial No. 701,593 by Samuel Duncan Cathcart, filed October 5, 1946 there are described and claimed umbrellas wherein the cover is secured to the outer ends of the ribs of the frame or to members constituting extensions thereof by rivets, which are not formedintegrally with the ribs and which pass through separate bushed eyelets of the said cover at or ad acent to its periphcry.

By the term bushed eyelet, is meant -a light tube which-has outwardly deformed ends which grip the fabric of the cover, with or without'the aid of interposed washers, one at. least of the outwardly deformed ends being formed by deforming an end of the tube after passing through the fabric. Bushedeyelets of aluminium or aluminium alloy have .the desired. ductility and also may be anodised to wide variations of colours and they also tend to avoid damage to plastic rib extension members when these are used. The bushed eyelets may be made of or covered or coated with plastic material, which may be suitably coloured or they may be sprayed or otherwise coated with colour. The whole or part or at least the heads of the rivets may also be treated as aforesaid or in the case of aluminium rivets they may be anodised as aforesaid. The bushed eyelets keep the stem of the rivet or stud out of contact with the material of the cover which is securely held between the radially extending portions of the eyelets.

I have found that there is a risk that the riveting pressures necessary to swage the headless end of a solid rivet may damage the anodised or coated surface of the rivet and the anodised or coated or other surface of the hushed eyelet and the appearance of the umbrella is marred.

The object of the present invention is to reduce the riveting pressure, thereby lessening the tendency to damage the said anodised or coated surface.

In order that the present invention may be is'an enlargedsectional view of one of the rivets; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the extension members-and Fig. 5 is a section of theextension member fitted on the end of a ribof the umbrella frame and showing the eyeleted cover secured thereto by means of the swaged rivet and Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of part of Fig. 5.

Referrin to the drawings, the cover I is pro;- vided around its periphery with a series of hushed eyelets 2 which may be securedthroughthe cover at the outer end of each radial seam thereof for example in any of the ways described and illustrated in the aforesaid specification. The unflanged end ofeach eyelet tube (Fig. 2) is-deformed so that the eyelet grips the cover as shown in Fig. 5..

The outer end of each rib3 of the umbrella frame is fitted with an extension member l pro vided with a socket portion 5.to fit over the end .intoa grooveor recess .1. in whichthe eyelet seats .andtheother endof the passageis countersunk The rivets 9 are of hollow tubular form with a radially projecting flange H) at one end (see Figs. 3 and 5) which is annularly dished at H to receive a flange of the eyelet and substantially to conform to the configuration thereof. The end of the rivet is closed by an end wall I2 which is shown (Fig. 3) at right angles to the axis of the rivet and rounded at its margin.

With the eyelet seated in the groove or recess 7 of the extension member, the rivet is passed through the eyelet and the cross passage (5 and the centre of the closed end of the rivet is forced in to form a closing or looking swage which secures the bushed eyelet to the extension member. The several eyelets round the cover may be each riveted to an extension member before the cover and attached extension members are applied to the ribs.

The bushed eyelets are preferably made of a ductile material such as aluminium for the purpose previously described.

The hollow rivets may be colour sprayed or clipped and the reduction of the swaging pressures permitted by the invention lessens the risk of such finish or surface being detrimentally aiiected by the swaging operation.

The requisite thickness of the wall of the hollow rivet may be ascertained by test, a thickness of 0.010 inches serving well, and much less pressure is required to set a hollow-rivet having its thickness than is needed to set a solid rivet.

For setting the rivet, a setting hammer with a conical working end having an apex angle of 120 serves well.

For colour finishing the hollow rivets, a number of these may be inserted flanged end uppermost in holes in a block or plate and the whole immersed in a colour bath.

The hollow rivets may be filled with colour or other deformable substance.

Coating by spraying may be practised with both the eyelets and the rivets, and in the case of the hollow rivets spraying may be prolonged sufficiently to fill the same.

The hollow rivets may advantageously be made of chromium plated brass or of aluminium and may in the latter case be anodised to wide variations in colour, the low swaging pressures permitted by the present invention lessening the risk of the plating or anodised surface being detrimentally effected by the swaging operation.

The eyelets may be riveted directly to the ribs, for example, by shaping the rib ends as shown in Fig. of the specification of application Serial No. 701,593 and passing the rivets through such shaped ends.

What I claim is:

1. An umbrella comprising a cover and a frame having cover-supporting ribs, members constituting extensions of the outer ends of said ribs, tubular eyelet members inserted through and clamped to the perimeter of the cover, and hollow tubular rivet members separate from said ribs and extension members and passing through said eyelet members, one end of each said hollow rivet member having a radially projecting flange and the other end being closed but readily deformable and being deformed to secure the eyelet to the said extension member.

2. An umbrella according to claim 1, in which said flange of the rivet member is annularly dished and the cloth is clamped between flanges of the eyelet, that flange of the eyelet member adjacent the flange of the rivet member being dished and the flange of the rivet member substantially following the contour of the said flange of the eyelet and not extending substantially beyond the perimeter of said eyelet flange.

3. An umbrella according to claim 1, in which said extension members and said outer ends of the ribs engage plug and socket fashion, each said extension member having a cross passage, the stem of the hollow tubular rivet member passing through the eyelet and then through the said passage, the inner end of said passage being countersunk and the closed end of said rivet member being swaged into said countersink by forcing the centre of the closed end axially inwards so that the rivet expands radially at that end to form a locking swage which effectively secures the eyelet to the extension member.

4. An umbrella comprising a cover and a frame having cover-supporting ribs, tubular eyelet members inserted through and clamped to the perimeter of the cover, and hollow tubular rivet members separate from said ribs and extending through said eyelet members, one end of each said rivet member having a radially projecting flange and the other end being closed but readily deformable and being deformed to secure the eyelet to the rib.

SYDNEY MURDOCH FROST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 404,039 Harris May 28, 1889 1,273,861 Howard July 30, 1918 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,141 Switzerland Mar. 12, 1890 2,911 Great Britain Dec. 15, 1853 

